Canada's Fernandez loses 6-4, 6-4 to Parks in first round of French Open

Leylah Fernandez of Canada plays a forehand return to Janice Tjen of Indonesia during their first round match at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)

PARIS — Canada’s Leylah Fernandez was bounced from the French Open after a 6-4, 6-4 first-round loss to Alycia Parks of the United States on Monday.

Fernandez, who was seeded 24th in the women’s draw at Roland Garros, was broken four times on nine chances and hit into seven double-faults.

Parks struggled with accuracy, with just 49.2 per cent of her first serves landing inbounds. She made up for that by winning 60 per cent of her second-serve points.

The 23-year-old Fernandez, from Laval, Que., was eliminated in the first round of the clay-court Grand Slam for a second straight year. Her best result at Roland Garros was a run to the quarterfinals in 2022.

Parks beat Fernandez for the second time at a Grand Slam, also winning in the second round of the 2024 Australian Open. Fernandez defeated Parks in their other meeting in the second round of the 2025 Miami Open.

The remaining Canadians in the French Open singles draws were scheduled to play their opening matches Tuesday. Men’s fourth seed Félix Auger-Aliassime of Montreal was set to face Germany’s Daniel Altmaier; Denis Shapovalov of Richmond Hill, Ont., was paired with Portugal’s Jaime Faria; and women’s ninth seed Victoria Mboko of Burlington, Ont., was matched up with Czechia’s Nikola Bartunkova.


This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 25, 2026.

The Canadian Press